Promise
by Kurogane7
Summary: After a failed mission, Garret has promised that he would never fall in love again...but when he meets a new woman in his life in his new job as a freelancer, is he ready to move on in the land of Arad? Rated T for now...
1. Never Again

_**A/N: I just could not get this idea out of my head…and so I decided to write a little prologue to see how warm the reception is for any story outside of the usual Yuffentine I do. If I get a decent-sized number of reviews (preferably around 5 or 6), I may consider continuing this story after I finish "Dying". So please, read and review, would you kindly?

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Damn it! This was never supposed to happen! They were supposed to kill Ghoulguish and find a way to lift the curse of Kazan together! She was supposed to be a master swordsman with him, both under the great master GSD's teachings. And now in his arms, the slayer carried the one person he had loved so that she could be buried proper in the Slayer Camp outside of Hendon Myre. The wound that that frozen and undead bastard had inflicted upon her was so grievous that there was no way to save her—the only good thing about it is that now she would probably be free from that blasted curse…the curse that had damned all those affected with prejudice…the curse that brought many tears to his eyes by driving him to kill his own family when he was a six…the curse that drove her away from her hometown…the curse that brought the two of them together to form a friendship that eventually turned into love.

As the slayer dragged his lover towards the gates of the Kazan district, he found her stirring. She groaned in awareness and awakening. "Garret," she said weakly, "how bad is it?"

Garret looked to his partner…they've joined up to form parties with other dungeon fighters, and here they thought that this would be a good opportunity to test out their strength on their own. And here he was, lying to her face—if only to comfort her; an act that he never was good at due to his rough life alone prior to meeting her. "Don't worry Hina. We're almost to the camp…just a little further, and we can get you help."

Hina giggled weakly…it was then that Garret knew that he had failed. "That bad eh? How long do you think I have?"

The injuries he had sustained from that ambush had been rather draining—Garret was only lucky he survived with scratch marks, although that did not change the fact that he was also injured. The only difference was that Hina had a nicked subclavian artery, and she was slowly bleeding to death due to Ghoulguish sneaking up behind her and biting her in the shoulder. After that episode, Garret swore that if he saw that icy bastard again, he would not let him get away—in fact, he would see to it that that yellow-livered coward never lived to see another day. "If we hurry, we can probably save you…I'm not going to let you die Hina—not while I'm still breathing."

"We both know I'm not going to make it Garret…although I appreciate your trying to make me feel better, there's no need to try and do so now…but then again, that's what I've always loved that about you—you're always trying hard even if you end up failing in what you intend to do."

It was a good thing it was raining at the moment—he didn't want her to see his tears…but even if he is a failure in comforting people, that did not mean he would stop trying. " I don't want you to die Hina…I want to keep failing…if only to please you. I want to keep failing so that I can continue to learn with you. So please…I'm begging you…hold on. We'll get there soon."

Unknown to Garret, Hina too was glad that it was raining…for she was crying at the fact that she would never be able to see the garnet eyes of her lover again. She would no longer be able to hold him in her arms and comfort him from the nightmares he has of the past—a sin he wished he could have taken back all because of the curse of Kazan. She would never again feel his strong arms envelope her on the cold winter nights as their communal body heat would help keep the wind from chilling them to death when their campfire would die. She would miss him…and she only felt sorry for the tears that would come out of Garret when she leaves him. "I want you to promise me something Garret."

"Name it."

"If I don't make it…"

"Hush…I will not have such talk. You'll make it…"

"Just listen…if I don't make it, I want you to promise me that no matter what happens that you'll be the best master swordsman in all of Arad worthy of Master GSD's teachings. I want you to take my katana…and live on. And most of all, no matter what happens, I will always love you."

As Garret continued to limp on, knew that when she made him promise something like that, Hina was serious—this was due to the fact that she was a woman of her word…whatever promise she makes, she keeps, and she also has a habit of making others do the same. This means that he has to keep this promise no matter what. "I promise Hina…just hold on…we're almost there."

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Time passed by quickly—Hina never survived from her wounds, and Garret managed to survive with scars. He looked down into the open grave tossing a flower into it while clutching her katana in his red, demon-cursed left hand. He would remember it as hers due to the red lacquered saya with inlaid rose quartz flower petals along its length and the handle was covered in the same red lacquer only with an inlaid cherry blossom with all five of its petals seen from above. On his back however was his zweihander with a broad blade—this was his main weapon.

It was from there as he watched Hina's casket getting buried that he made a silent vow to himself…a vow that he muttered to himself and nobody else. "Never again."

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_**A/N: So what do you think? As far as classes go, I tend to favor the Slayer-class (he is a swordsman and is a well-balanced character). For those who are not sure if Hina should exist in this story and assume that all Slayers are male…there was a concept art for a female Slayer, which is the basis for me introducing her. Also, Roxy, the dark elf in the introductory comic happens to be a Slayer as well. Anyway, if you manage to review, do please help me out would you kindly? I will run a poll at the same time in this story, and so if you can add your opinions, that would be lovely.

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**_Songs Played:_**

_**"Never Forget" by Michael Salvatori and Martin O'Donnel from "Halo 3": Garret takes Hina back to camp, and the funeral

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**_Vocabulary:_**

_**Subclavian artery—this is the artery just under your shoulder bone; this is a major kill-zone on a human being.**_

_**Saya—this is a sheath for a katana.**_


	2. New Job

_**A/N: Well, second chapter's a charm…we'll see about how this story is going then neh? So do read and review would you kindly?**_

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Several years had passed since Garret had lost Hina…long gone was the black vest he wore then and in its place was a loose-fitting black overcoat with wide sleeves that made a soft metallic rattling sound as it was reinforced with steel scales in between the cloth for armor, although he was still shirtless under the coat, a wide and conical sedge shade was atop his head, and he also wore a slate grey hakama with a plated fauld covering the sides that covered a pair of lightly-plated boots. On his back was his zweihander, but in addition to that, he also carried a long two-handed solid iron rod with an octagonal shaft, a short sword at his right side, what appeared to be a handle dangling around on the strap of the fauld, and finally, he carried Hina's katana at his left side. The regulator that was to belong to her was now making his arm white as it stabilized the curse of Kazan—it would forever remind him of the dream he chose to uphold for the both of them and the day he lost her. He wondered what would have happened if he had chosen to bring the blind weed to Loton in order to sacrifice his sight for power…like he had originally wanted.

As he sat at the table in Siusha's bar, he took a sip of the high-quality beer she served. After Hina died, he began to frequent this bar rather often if only to drink away the memory of the way she died…if only he could have seen that icy bastard before he bit her there. "You really need to take a walk more often." Garret looked up at the tall and lanky man before him—his hair was silvery gray which contradicted his appearance of a man close to his thirties. The revolvers at his hips and the fact that he had a lit cigar in his mouth was enough to tell anyone that this gunner was a ranger even under that red jacket, black tank top, blue slacks, and black and white trainers.

"So says the man who frequents this place as often as I do."

"Hey, I'm not that bad now am I?"

"Are you kidding me? Ever since that day, I've successfully drunken your lightweight ass under the table at least ten times already during our drinking contests…and we weren't even drinking that elven drake champagne that Siusha's made…every time, we ordered her top-secret formula."

"Okay, okay, bad example. Although you really didn't have to rub it in with that lightweight bit…I swear, you drink alcohol as if it were water, and you're not even affected like normal people."

"So it would seem. What brings you here anyway Leon? After Hina died, I rarely see you anymore outside of work."

"I just got hired for a new job. Pays almost 300 gold an hour, and the boss said I could bring anyone in…said he really wants freelancers on this to beef up his entourage, and I kinda figured you'd want in."

"What kind of job?"

"Well we're doing a simple escort duty for some caravan as they make a trade in the Storm Pass region with the Bantu Tribe. After that, we're heading for the Aphelia area to see if there is any business there before heading to Elvenguard, West Coast, and back to Hendon Myre in that order."

"What's the name of your contractor?"

"I think it was Heimlich…Heinman…"

The look of reluctance was very clear on Garret's face…as if hoping the name he was about to utter was not true to his friend's case. "Was it Heinrich?"

"That's the name! Heinrich Von Ritter!"

Garret could not believe it…although he did not blame Leon for not knowing—he's never worked for the man before. He took a deep breath before letting out two words: "I'll pass."

The excitement upon Leon's face melted away into a confused frown. "Care to explain why you're turning down such a high-paying job?"

"I've worked for Heinrich before…man's a fucking racist against Slayers. He looks down on those of us who have been cursed by Kazan like we're the scourge to all that is good and pure to him. Anyway, I once took a job from him almost a year ago hunting down a bandit gang who had been terrorizing a village with a couple of other freelancers…bastard paid the other guys my cut, and I suspected that he hated Slayers then and there because of the way he glared at me the first time we met which explained why I never got paid. In anger, I simply left—I figured that he must've been pretty important judging by how much money he seemed to be paying, so in my eyes that asshole wasn't worth having a price on my head, and in retaliation, I decided that when I got back to the Slayer Camp, I'd warn everyone else not to take a job from him and hopefully put his name on the blacklist. No more than 45 feet away from the camp, I get ambushed by my colleagues on that mission…apparently they'd both been offered a bonus to assassinate me. After I killed them both, and searched their corpses for stuff I could use and sell, I promised myself that the next time I saw that bastard, I was going to throttle him."

"Man, and I thought I saw bad jobs…this one actually takes the cake. But why are you not getting your revenge now?"

"Because you need the money to find a way to get back to Empyrean and talk your brother out of the Kartels, and so if I join you on this job, it'll be hard for me to not kill the man on sight; the camp taken him off the bulletin board and have blacklisted him as a potential client, but if I kill him, there's likely to be a rather sizable price on my head…and yours for being associated with me."

"Awww…too bad…you actually convinced me to not take the job…eh, I suppose you're right—and I suppose it's no use to tell you about that rumor I heard among the members of the entourage."

"What sort of rumor?"

"Don't bother, you're not interested."

"Sell me."

"Very well then…word on the street is that there's a dark elf somewhere in Aphelia that knows how to cure the Kazan Syndrome."

"You've got to be shitting me…"

"I kid you not…with my hand to any god listening up there. There may very well be hope for you and everyone else in the camp."

"Well that's interesting…I…"

Before he could finish his train of thought, Garret's eyes widened and his flow of blood had accelerated with fear upon hearing one sentence coming from outside the bar from the voice of what appeared to be a little girl roughly around ten years old: "Oh Gary-poo!"

It was then that only two words left his mouth silently: "Oh shit." Leon looked at his friend carefully—in the few years he had known the other man, he had never seen him this frightened in a while. Last time he did was when Hina was alive—and the two of them accidentally stumbled upon her in the middle of a bath during a mission in Garakqarak. "Garret what the…" Before he could finish his sentence, Garret grabbed his friend by the collar, and dragged him quickly through the bar and into the kitchen and slamming the door on their way out to the back alley—all within the span of five seconds. "Garret, what in the name of…"

Leon was hushed quickly as Garret began speaking in a desperate whisper. "Look, I'll take the fucking job alright? Just keep it down! I don't want HER to hear me!"

"You don't want who to hear you?"

"Why Garret…I didn't know you actually swung that way!"

Garret's eyes widened in shock…This cannot be happening! He'd spent the last few weeks dodging that voice, and now here she was. It was then that he slowly turned his head to see the sight he really didn't want to see…it was a little elf girl with long pink hair tied to the sides of her head, and wearing a tiny little hat on her head. She wore a black sports jacket with golden skull motifs attached to the bottom of the lapels and a white dress shirt underneath, a red skirt, and red stockings that went to a pair of black shoes. At her side was a trident that was her height, and it was being held by a pair of armored gloves and at the opposite side. Her red eyes were looking up at the two of them…in a rather awkward position with Garret and Leon being in excessively close proximity with each other.

"Who is this kid?"

Garret let out an angered sigh, and walked away with Leon with his skin a glowing red color that would put a strawberry to shame. "This little girl is Mira…and I've been unable to stay away from her for very long."

Mira had an unnaturally wide grin on her face…an unnaturally wide grin that hid many things behind it and luring her victims in with the sweet voice she was using. "Oh, but who said that you'll ever want to escape from me?"

Looking at the situation, Leon began to widen his grin…he was making choking sounds as he covered his mouth…but then he could no long resist it. He let out a loud laugh at his friend's situation. "Damn…I knew you were popular with the ladies Garret…but little girls too? You've got quite a bit of luck on you!"

"I'm telling you, she is like freakin' superglue! She's been stalking me ever since I saved her life almost a year ago. And let me tell you this; as of that day, I regret saving her life…she never leaves me alone!"

"I can see why! You're any girl's dream! You've even got kindergartners to chase after you!"

"Shut up!"

"Aw…but I really wanted in on that job as my Gary-poo!"

"No Mira…this is personal!"

Knowing that 'no' means 'no' as far as Garret was concerned, the look of shock was apparent on Mira's face…before it slowly started to stretch the frown on her face into an evil-looking smile that started closing her eyes. A smile that Garret was all-too-familiar with…oh hell no! No fucking way! She was going to do it! Leon watched in confusion as he watched the little girl suck in a deep breath and Garret beginning to panic. Before long, he was already in the middle of a pounce as she let it out…loudly!

"HEY EVERYONE! THERE'S TWO GUYS HERE THAT WANT TO…"

Before she could finish that sentence, Garret took his demon-possessed arm, and slapped it over Mira's mouth quickly…the look of fear was clear in his eyes as he looked around to check if anyone heard that and let out a sigh of relief upon finding that there were no listeners. With that, he looked her in the eye and steeled himself for what he was about to say—god knows what's going to happen when he lets her hear those words, but anything was better than her finishing that sentence! The pain and agony were very clear in his whisper. "Okay, you get to come! Just don't ever do that again! Ever!"

With that, Mira was filled with glee! Now she was on a job with the target of her stalking affections! Leon on the other hand was also relieved…he never thought that he'd ever see a girl like that take advantage of the 'child molesters are after me' act! As he thought on it, he began to actually feel sorry for Garret…to have to deal with a brat like that would be nothing short of torture. Garret however, simply reminded himself that this was to placate the girl's screeching voice so that she would not be screaming in his ear again…although now that he thought about it, he much rather would have been dealing with the inappropriate situations he tended to find himself with her. As he let out a sigh, he began to think to himself 'what have I done?'

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_**A/N: Yes Garret, what have you done? The real romance will begin in the next chapter…assuming of course I get more reviews. If there are more reviews, then I'll also contemplate making a different path for Garret to follow…like the Asura path. In any case, I thank you readers for reading so far, if you have done so.**_

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_**Songs Used:**_

"_**Breeze" by Daisuke Ishiwatari from "Blazblue: Continuum Shift"—Garret enjoying his drink in Siusha's bar, and his conversation with Leon**_

"_**Comedy" by Daisuke Ishiwatari from "Blazblue: Continuum Shift"—Mira finds Garret and Leon**_


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